Terahertz pulses induce chirality in a non-chiral crystal

"This discovery opens up new possibilities for the dynamical control of matter at the atomic level"

29-Jan-2025 - Chirality is a fundamental property of matter that determines many biological, chemical and physical phenomena. Chiral solids, for example, offer exciting opportunities for catalysis, sensing and optical devices by enabling unique interactions with chiral molecules and polarized light. These ...

Spin-Powered Crystals: A Breakthrough in Clean Hydrogen Production

"...we've created a catalyst that outperforms traditional materials by a factor of 200"

28-Nov-2024 - Scientists have discovered an exciting new approach to generating clean hydrogen energy using a remarkable class of crystals that harness the quantum properties of electrons. Water splitting — breaking water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen — is a promising pathway to sustainable energy. ...

Tailoring chemical bonds

Specific identification of solids that drastically change their properties during crystallisation.

25-Jan-2024 - Solids can have two structurally very different states: crystal and glass. While the short-range order of the atoms in both states is generally very similar, only the atoms of the crystal have a long-range order. The similarity of the short-range order is attributed to the similarity of the ...

A “gold standard” for computational materials science codes

23-Jan-2024 - Physicists and materials scientists can choose from a whole family of computer codes that simulate the behavior of materials and predict their properties. The accuracy of the results obtained by these codes depends on the employed approximations and chosen numerical parameters. To verify that the ...

A Glass That Sifts Carbon Dioxide

Research Group Develops a Glass Material That Precisely Separates Gases

27-Dec-2023 - Separating carbon dioxide molecules from gas mixtures requires materials with extremely fine pores. Researchers from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, in cooperation with the University of Leipzig and the University of Vienna, have now found a novel way to do this: they transformed crystalline ...

X-rays reveal how glasses lose their stability

PETRA III experiment shows how atoms in glass behave as weaknesses appear

28-Nov-2023 - Is glass solid or liquid? There is a popular misconception that old glass, which is often thicker at the bottom than at the top (such as stained-glass windows from cathedrals), flows downwards over time because it is actually an extremely viscous liquid. To a certain extent, this is true, glass ...

Investment in the millions: TGFS Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen invests in ReViSalt

Thinner, lighter, stronger: ReViSalt revolutionizes the strengthening of glass, unlocking a new global potential for glass products

12-Jun-2023 - TGFS Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen invested a seven-figure Euro amount in ReViSalt GmbH. The Freiberg-based tech start-up specializes in the chemical strengthening of glass – a complex process that is currently used primarily to produce high-quality display glass. With the ReViSalt ...

New glass from the computer

Material researchers are developing computer-aided methods, with which glass can be developed in a more time- and energy-efficient manner

16-May-2023 - Glass is a very special material: it can be produced in almost unlimited variety from compounds of almost all elements of the periodic table. The only prerequisite is that the components can be melted together and that the melt is then cooled quickly enough. In the process, the liquid mixture ...

Nanoparticles drill holes at will in silicon

Industrially usable technique for producing porous silicon and glass opens up fresh perspectives for numerous applications

21-Feb-2023 - A Hamburg-based research team has developed a new method for producing a network of large to very fine pores in silicon and glass. At DESY’s X-ray source PETRA III, scientists led by DESY researchers Stella Gries and Patrick Huber were able to analyse the porosity using X-ray tomography. The ...

New crystal growth orientation method manipulated materials properties

Single crystal growth method discovered to be effective in controlling orientation

16-Feb-2023 - A new method to grow single crystals and simultaneously control their growth orientation without melt processing has been discovered by Texas A&M University materials science and engineering doctoral graduate Dr. Hande Ozcan and Dr. Ibrahim Karaman, department head and Chevron Professor. The ...